HARARE – A former Fidelity Printers top official has secured attachment of property belonging to news channel Al Jazeera after he was last year implicated in a documentary that sought to expose Zimbabwe’s notorious gold smuggling syndicates.

Dube claims his reputation was tarnished and intends to file a US$2 million lawsuit against the international media house.

To this end, he approached the High Court seeking an order for attachment of the publication’s property for purposes of confirming the jurisdiction of the court in a defamation claim he intends to institute against the peregrini respondent.

Justice Siyabona Musithu has granted Dube’s request in a judgment handed down at the Harare High Court.

Musithu said the case was of public interest and surely deserved to be tested in court to determine whether the allegations were true or not.

He said the High Court has jurisdiction and as such Al Jazeera’s property indeed could be held as requested.

“The court has already noted that what differentiates the present matter from the authorities referred to by the respondent’s counsel is the presence of the respondent’s bureau office in the country.

“It has not been denied that the bureau office houses the equipment that the applicant wants attached to confirm the jurisdiction of the court. It was also not disputed that the equipment in the bureau office belongs to the respondent.

“The court would confine the attachment order to the equipment at the respondent’s bureau office and not the equipment that may be at the residences of its employees, since it was not denied that they may have equipment of their own,” he said.

Musithu however noted that no connection was established between the equipment at the employees’ residences, if any, and the respondent.

“In his answering affidavit, the applicant did not dispute the respondent’s averment that it sublets room 102 at the Rainbow Towers.

“Resultantly, it is ordered that; the application for an attachment to confirm the jurisdiction of this Court in the intended suit between the applicant and the respondent be and is hereby granted.

“The Sheriff of Zimbabwe be and is hereby authorised to attach and take into his possession the respondent’s laptops, computers, printers, cameras and photographic equipment at the respondent’s bureau offices at the Rainbow Towers Hotel, Harare.”

The judge said costs of this application shall be costs in the cause in the action to be instituted by the applicant against the respondent.

Dube was formerly employed by Fidelity Printers and Refiners as Head of Gold Operations from 1989-2022.

He claims to have left employment with a good track record and solid relations with his former employer.

He claims that between 23 March 2023 and 14 April 2023, Al Jazeera released a documentary series titled ‘Gold Mafia’ with four extensive and intrinsically related episodes.

It claimed that the documentary was a product of two years of undercover investigations into gold trading activities by some prominent people in Zimbabwe.

The applicant further claims that the series was an instant hit accumulating over 12 million views on multiple platforms.

The purpose of the documentary was allegedly to expose the smuggling of gold in Zimbabwe and the individuals involved in illegal gold trade.

“Episode 2 of the ‘Gold Mafia’ series titled ‘Smoke & Mirrors’, particularly at timestamp 33:10-33:42, implicated the applicant as having corruptly signed off licenses for purchase and sale for one Kamlesh Pattni to facilitate the smuggling of gold. In return, the applicant is alleged to have received a monthly payment of US$3,000 for his services,” the court was told.

Dune said this episode had over 2.8 million views, which number gradually increased daily attracting over 24,000 likes and 4.500 comments.

He claims that his implication in gold smuggling had done considerable damage to his image and reputation amongst his peers, family, fellow Zimbabweans and the world at large.

This was because the series had a large viewership arising from the media house’s popularity.

“The damage was continuous as the material remained posted on the respondent’s page and copies of the episodes had been made by third parties and circulated elsewhere,” he said.

He first engaged Al Jazeera on 15 May 2023.

The respondent later responded to the latest email from the applicant’s legal practitioners but claimed to be unaware of the earlier communication.

The parties failed to reach an amicable settlement prompting the filing of the court application.

Dube intends to sue the respondent for defamation damages in the sum of US$2 million, emanating from what he calls falsehoods that were broadcast by the respondent in the said series.

It was his submission that Al Jazeera runs a bureau office at the Rainbow Towers, Harare where it keeps multiple items of its trade such as laptops, computers, printers and state of the art cameras.

He had also mentioned residences where its local employees reside insisting that the houses could also be attached to confirm court’s jurisdiction.

He said the estimated value of the equipment held by the camera person was US$100,000.

It is that equipment that the applicant wants attached in order to confirm the court’s jurisdiction as well as to ensure that any judgment that may be granted by the court would be executable.

The opposing affidavit by Al Jazeera was deposed to by Phillip Rees in his capacity as the respondent’s Director of Investigative Journalism.

He confirmed that the respondent sublets room 102 at Rainbow Towers from the Rainbow Tourism Group Limited.

He said the room was used as an editorial room, by the respondent’s employees. He however denied the respondent used room 103 as alleged by the applicant.

In addition, he said his employer was neither incorporated nor did it have its principal place of business in Zimbabwe.

The employees, he said did not keep the equipment at room 102 Rainbow Towers, although they may have done so at some point prior to the applicant’s application.

The respondent acknowledged the existence of the Grange and the Milton Park properties in Harare but averred that these belonged to its employees.